L.A. COUNTY, MALIBU PLAN ROAD REPAIR; OFFICIALS WORKING ON PROPOSAL TO REOPEN KANAN DUME ROAD.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles County and Malibu city officials are putting the finishing touches on a $1 million deal to repair Kanan Dume Road, a favorite Conejo Valley beach thoroughfare that has been closed since September.

The deal will give Malibu officials a $1 million ``line of credit'' with the county based on future gas tax money and finance exchanges that will allow the city to fill in the missing chunk of road the length of a football field. The lanes, near Pacific Coast Highway, were wiped out by a landslide.

If the county Board of Supervisors approves the plan as expected, residents and business owners who have been complaining for months about the road closure may have a functional road by the end of the year.

If nothing else, the city hopes to fix the slope by late September or October to prevent further damage, City Manager Harry Peacock said.

``The road is, literally, still moving,'' Public Works Director John Clement said. ``I'm under a strict time line to get it fixed by early winter. I've got to get the road stabilized before the heavy rains.''

To keep the project's price tag at $1 million, the repaired stretch of road will have two lanes, Peacock said.

Officials are still waiting to see if part of the finance exchange, in which the city will swap next year's gas tax money for county road money, is legal, Peacock said. About $300,000 of the $1.1 million could be in jeopardy if the future money cannot be applied to the project, he said.

In addition, the city is counting on free dirt from the state Department of Transportation to buttress the road. But Caltrans has not told the city when the dirt will be available, Peacock said.

A third factor also may delay the project. The city must place the dirt on the property of three residents, Peacock said. One of the property owners has not agreed to give city access, he said, which could force the city to take legal action to get a right of way.

Once the city clears those hurdles, Malibu and Conejo Valley business owners who rely on Kanan Dume Road to bring customers can breathe a sigh of relief.

``Business has definitely been affected. I get 20 percent of my business from the Malibu area,'' said Jim Davis, a partner at Davis Sales and Gunsmithing in Agoura Hills. ``Regular customers either come through Las Virgenes Road or the detour, and some people have expressed disinterest in doing that. I've felt it since September, definitely.''

Meanwhile, Perfect Balance Surf Shop off Kanan Road in Agoura Hills has seen almost no drop-in customers heading to the beach, said Philip Waller, a sales clerk and local resident.

``A lot of people would stop here on the way to the beach, but now they take Malibu Canyon Road, and we're obviously not located there,'' Waller said. ``We have surfboard rentals, wet suit rentals, bathing suits, sunscreen. We still have the regular crowd, but I think it definitely hurts us with the little things.''

Waller, who lives on Kanan Road and makes regular trips to Zuma Beach to surf, said the traffic has been horrendous this summer.

``Me and my friends are always talking about it. It takes twice as long now to get to the beach, and the Encinal Canyon Road detour takes you way up there, past Zuma. It's a complete joke.''

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Photo: (ran in CONEJO only) A surveyor works near a patch of Kanan Dume Road near Pacific Coast Highway damaged in a landslide.

Phil McCarten/Daily News